- Articles
Officials at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) have announced that Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Dr. Joe Peek has been selected as the recipient for this year’s Outstanding Alumnus for the School of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. Traditionally recognized in coordination with NEO Football Homecoming, NEO is planning to recognize this year’s honorees during a spring 2021 ceremony.
Born in Miami, Dr. Peek’s family was constantly on the move, since his father was in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. After graduating from Miami High School, he attended NEO for a chance to learn from Oran Need, mathematics chair. While at NEO, Dr. Peek participated in the pre-engineering club and participated in spring break trips led by Charles Angle, dean of student affairs. Following NEO, Dr. Peek earned his BS in mathematics from Oklahoma State University after only three semesters. While he knew he wanted to pursue a graduate degree, he spent the next few years traveling. He found work as a mathematics teacher, food service worker, and apple picker in Australia before heading back to Oklahoma State University to begin his graduate program.
Completing an MS in economics from OSU, he continued on to receive a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University and began a teaching career at Boston College. While at Boston College, he served as a visiting professor and later an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Following his tenure at Boston College, Dr. Peek served as the Gatton Chair in International Banking and Financial Economics for the next decade before returning to Boston to join the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Since 2012, Dr. Peek has served as Vice President and Economist focusing on research in finance and banking. He has produced over 100 articles, book chapters, presentations, and papers focusing on several areas of domestic and international finance and banking. Dr. Peek, his wife Arzu, and his mother-in-law live in Hingham, Mass., just outside of Boston. The Peek’s daughter, Denise, lives nearby. “It is a privilege to honor Mr. Joe Peek with the Outstanding Alumnus Award for the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences,” said Jennifer Walker, executive director of the NEO Development Foundation. “Joe has gone on to achieve much success within the banking industry and serves as a great example to our business students today.” For more information, contact Jordan Adams at Jordan.m.adams@neo.edu.
